Enabling local health departments to save more lives: A public health perspective

Abstract

“Public health is the art and science of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts of society” (1) (italics added). District health management personnel are government employees charged with overseeing public health at a scale of roughly 100,000 people. Countries can use other terms for districts like counties, municipalities, parishes, barangays, but all have a sub-national local scale where airborne, waterborne, and behavioural diseases are transmitted and where political units can make and enforce local policies. Districts are the first detectors and last mile responders to all health threats. District health personnel thus have great potential to enlarge their role in creating healthier communities by facilitating “organized efforts of society” – that is where one could notice the art and science of public health practice. Public health practice is defined by a set of functions that marshal local data on health and health threats and assure that multiple sectors are taking part in organized efforts to make a community a place with healthier living conditions. For over 150 years, district health managers have been able to transform the cities, counties, parishes, and districts of across the world into healthier and safer places to live. Their agency is necessary to help all of us transform the benefits of growing economic prosperity into communities where all humans thrive. There are over 60,000 health districts in the world today offering 60,000 micro-environments to improve human health.